Conrad Nicholson Hilton (December 25, 1887-January 3, 1979) was founder of the Hilton Hotel chain. After having served in World War I, he was involved in the banking business, and his father's mercantile concerns. In 1919, he purchased his first hotel in Cisco, Texas, which began his world- impacting career.
On May 7, 1952, Conrad Hilton gave an address, titled, A Battle for Peace:
<OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN:
WE PRAY that YOU save us from ourselves.
The world that YOU have made for us, to live in peace, we have made into an armed camp.
We live in fear of war to come.
We are afraid of "the terror that flies by night, and the arrow that flies by day, the pestilence that walks in darkness and the destruction that wastes at noon-day."
We have turned from YOU to go our selfish way.
We have broken YOUR commandments and denied YOUR truth.
We have left YOUR altars to serve the false gods of money and pleasure and power.
FORGIVE US AND HELP US
Now, darkness gathers around us and we are confused in all our counsels. Losing faith in YOU, we lose faith in ourselves.
Inspire us with wisdom, all of us of every color, race and creed,
to use our wealth, our strength to help our brother, instead of destroying him.
Help us to do YOUR will as it is done in heaven and to be worthy of
YOUR promise of peace on earth.
Fill us with new faith, new strength and new courage, that we may win the Battle for Peace.
Be swift to save us, dear God, before the darkness falls.> 1887CH001
In a Prayer Breakfast at the Mayflower Hotel, following addresses by Representative Charles E. Bennett of Florida, Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, Senator Alexander Wiley and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon, Mr. Conrad N. Hilton spoke sincerely:
<What I like about prayer is that it is a means of direct communication with God. You can speak to Him any time, night or day, and you can know with certainty that He is listening to you....
You can thank Him for the things He has done for you. You can tell Him you are baffled, bewildered, discouraged, or that you are the happiest person in the world....
It took a war to put prayer at the center of the lives of our fighting men.
It took a war, and the frightening evil of Communism, to show the world that this whole business of prayer is not a sissy, a counterfeit thing that man can do or not as he wishes.
Prayer...is a part of man's personality, without which he limps....It is with this limp that man walks without God. That is how men grope in darkness unless they believe that God, in His kindness, is willing to lift the shadows if we ask Him in prayer: is willing to raise men to the vision of the children of God if men ask Him in prayer; is willing to help us live like children of God with the permanent peace, and happiness of the children of God-if we ask Him in prayer.> 1887CH002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1887CH001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Conrad Nicholson Hilton, May 7, 1952, in an address titled "The Battle for Peace." Mrs. James Dobson (Shirley), chairman, The National Day of Prayer Information Packet (Colorado Springs, CO: National Day of Prayer Task Force, May 6, 1993).
1887CH002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Conrad Nicholson Hilton, in a Prayer Breakfast at the Mayflower Hotel, following addresses by Congressman Charles E. Bennett of Florida, Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, Senator Alexander Wiley and Vice-President Richard Nixon. Edward L.R. Elson, D.D., Lit.D., LL.D., America's Spiritual Recovery (Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1954), pp. 166-167.